In a dark au, where wizards have not only been found out and a great war destroyed the world that we know. I'm just playing around with characters. I don't own Harry Potter.

Chapter 1 - This is our Journey

The wonderful and terrible culture of magic once thrived. It was found throughout the world, the secret to those that were not privy to its power. W world within the world that belonged to wizards and wizards along. It happened suddenly and without warning, that the world of the muggles that found out about the wizards. Because of that incident, the world fell apart. War broke out between the two factions, leaving those that use magic to hide within the shadows.

"Lumos" Alex held his wand at chest level.

He and Chet were sitting in an old abandoned house that they had broken into. They were looking for anything that they could use on their travels. But, more importantly, they were looking for somewhere to stay the night. For what felt like the millionth time, he reflected on what he was doing out here.

He didn't have to be here. There was a place that he could stay that was safe but there was something that he wanted to do. There was a rumor that a book that held the secret to making everything the way it was before. No one wanted to risk going to find it so he stood up to the task. Everyone warned him not to but if there was a way to stop this, he was going to find it.

The problem was that the book was supposed to be in a castle called Hogwarts, all the way in England. He needed a boat to get there, and even if he did, he needed to actually find the castle.

He had met Chet while walking through a field. Apparently, he was searching for food. When he was that Chet was also a wizard he told him what he was trying to do. Chet obviously wasn't impressed with the idea but he did know a few things about the castle and some of the books inside. He said that he couldn't care less about putting the world back, it wasn't the world he knew anyway. But he wanted to see the castle. While he was glad for the company, Chet was a little awkward. He wasn't very talkative and seemed to keep to himself. Try as he might, Alex just couldn't figure out his motivation.

Chet carried a staff on his back with an orb at the top. When he wasn't using the staff it was strapped to his back. He looked a little awkward when he was sitting. It never left him. Even when he was sleeping it was with him.

"Magic used to be secret," Chet broke the silence. "The rest of the world didn't know anything about what wizards were like."

"Yeah," Alex said quietly, "I had heard stories like that."

Chet leaned back, "Wands were the only medium for magic. There were no Staffs or amulets for casting."

"That's interesting," Alex responded, not really that interested at all, "Hey, I have a question, why do you want to go to the castle?"

Chet sighed and readjusted his staff. "There is supposed to be some really high-level spellbooks. If I study them, I could probably do anything. I want to be powerful because... there's something that I need to do."

"What's that?" Alex asked he was getting really curious.

"Go to sleep," he said, laying down. Alex was left curious and tired. He didn't learn what he was really curious about but now he knew a lot more about the person that he was traveling with. He was pretty sure that the safe-guards that he had put up would keep them safe until the morning. They always had, there was no reason to think otherwise.

Alex woke with a start, there was something moving around outside. "Chet!" his traveling companion was sleeping sitting up. "Chet!" he said again. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Chet starting to move around. He looked out the window to see some people moving around. "They don't look too friendly," he said to himself.

"Really?" Chet said sarcastically. As Alex raised his wand Chet planted his staff in front of him. Casting together granted them more powerful spells.

The people outside had guns, 'most likely not spell-casters' Alex mumbled to himself. Chet nodded and cast a silent spell.

Although there wasn't enough time to really watch him, Alex was really amazed by the way Chet handled himself. He really wanted to know who had taught him magic. Maybe he could teach him something.

With the distraction that was now set, they were able to escape out the back. They ran through the field, toward the river. Although he didn't know where he was going Chet seemed pretty confident. Even though he didn't really feel like he could really trust him yet, he did feel like he knew what he was doing.

As they got there, both bent over and breathing heavily, Chet looked up at him, "What now?"

Alex blinked at him, "I thought you had a plan!"

"Why would you think that?" Chet replied, more calmly than he should have.

Alex took a shaky breath and closed his eyes to try to clear his mind. "Alright," he said calmly as he could, "we need to get out of here."

"Duh,"

"So," he was starting to get irritated, "it might be best if we hid ourselves a little better," he explained. "Like maybe, I don't know, not wearing cloaks and giants staffs,"

Chet narrowed his eyes, "No,"

"What?" Alex was a little confused.

"My staff is who I am. Leaving it behind, or altering it in any way would be like leaving part of myself behind." Chet explained.

Alex rolled his eyes, "I didn't mean leave it behind, I mean just hide it a little better." Chet looked at him skeptically but said nothing. "Let's get some disguises."

Chet allowed himself to be led by Alex into the edge of a nearby town. Along the way, he seemed to be working in some sort of journal but Alex wasn't brave enough to ask him too much about it. Chet was an odd one for sure.

But since the two of them were alone he didn't have much choice. It was either talk with him or be completely alone. "So, um," but he was stopped when Chet held out an arm and pointed to a small group of buildings. "What is that?" Instead of answering Chet just raised an eyebrow, as if to say, 'What do you think?'.

Alex nodded, "Yeah, let's go." He took the lead and started creeping down the hill. Every now and then he would turn back to make sure that Chet was following. He was and, surprisingly, he was following Alex's lead. He didn't know what they might find within the village, but he was sure it was worth it.

But what they found was something he couldn't imagine. Along the sides of the village, he could see the dark mark painted on all sides. His heart sped up and he felt like a cold stone was sitting on his heart. "Go," he whispered. He got a hold on himself and grabbed Alex's arm, "WE need to go now!"

But Chet stood rigid. "Come on!" Alex yelled, pulling on him harder.

"If we run, they'll chase," he said numbly. He walked slowly toward the door and Alex wanted to pull him away but he knocked before he could. Alex felt like he couldn't breathe. "I need you to follow my lead,"